A New Era of Shadow Games
by ChemiCool
Summary: Several years have gone by since the Pharaoh's soul was put to rest. However, the Pharaoh along with other's have been revived and given new life. The dawn of a new age of Shadow Games is to fall upon the Earth. Was the Pharaoh brought back to stop the Shadow Games again? Is it true that light cannot exist without casting shadows? How will the heres face this new dark force?
1. Preface

**Preface to A New Era of Shadow Games**

Hello readers and welcome to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction titled A New Era of Shadow Games. Before we get started a few words from the author to assist in understanding this fic!

Firstly, the writing of this fic started before any of the sequels to classic Yu-Gi-Oh! were released. Therefore, it takes none of the canon from any of the other stories. The story opens with a scene that occurs at the end of the classic Yu-Gi-Oh! series and then jumps to the current setting of the story which is several years later amidst Yugi and the gang attending college.

Second, this story attempt to portray the characters as they are in the show. Please, refrain from insisting that Yami Bakura and Yami Marik act like violent serial killers that randomly stab things and carve symbols into random walls for fun. I've seen this comment on a number of firs insisting that these characters "stay in character" when the truth is that there is no precedent in the canon anime to state that they would act in such ways. They are violent sociopaths, but they've never been shown to be randomly violent unless pursuing their own goals. Perhaps in the original manga this was the case as it takes a much more violent tone there. It is also fun to over-play Yugi as a naive child and Joey as incredibly stupid, but this story does not seek to over exaggerate these characteristics.

Thirdly, important character considerations are here:  
\- Yami Bakura - Referenced only as Bakura is a fusion of the two souls that inhabited the Millennium Ring. He is not Zorc or Thief King Bakura, but a combination of the two as he is depicted in the canon with the two souls fusing to one.  
\- Yami Marik - Referenced only as Marik while his counter part will be referenced as Malik. He is not an ancient spirit, but the incarnation of Malik's dark side. Those familiar with the anime should be aware of this, but to be clear he is not an ancient spirit.  
\- Atem/Yami Yugi - Will be referred to by his proper name Atem throughout the fic.  
\- Yami/Hikari - These terms may be used through out the fic just to break up the repeat of words. Yami is the term referenced to the "dark/ancient" counterparts (i.e. Yami Yugi). Hikari is the term referenced to the "light/modern" counterpart (i.e. Yugi Muto).

Lastly, I will not post a disclaimer with every chapter, but state here that for all chapters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction A New Era of Shadow Games the original canon characters are not in any way owned by myself, nor are any canonical plot devices or references to the original plot line. However, any plot devices and original characters created in this fic are the intellectual property of ChemiCool.

As an aside, I had a lot of trouble naming this fic and as such I'm willing to take suggestions from my readers! If you come up with a name more befitting the story let me know. :)

Enjoy reading this story as I know I enjoyed writing it!


	2. The Ancient Spirits Return

"Atem!" a female voice called out into the night and a golden light enveloped the room in which the female had been sleeping before being forced awake by an awakening inside of her. The golden light came from the Eye of Anubis glowing on her forehead. A cold sweat rested on her skin as she panted and a hand reached up to hold her head. "It's been done," she spoke breathlessly, "Atem has been beaten and returned to the afterlife. It's always this way." Her purple hues gazed out into sky over Domino City.

"You are just not meant to be with your brother," a dark chuckle sounded through the female's head.

"Who's there?" she questioned and glanced around though knew that the being speaking to her wasn't in the room.

"Seito is what you go by in this life? You'll discover that soon enough," the voice replied with a little chuckle.

Seito's eyes closed and she sighed, "I don't know who you are or why you are resting within my soul, but I suppose if it's fated then it will come to pass and after all, I must assume that your soul is here to help me accomplish my goals in being reborn in this century."

* * *

Several years later…

Yugi Muto sighed as he finally got back home for the summer from his college, "Grandpa, I'm home!" He glanced around, noticing that everything was dark, "I guess he's not home, that's strange." Yugi moved up to his bedroom and set his suitcase down. "I guess I can just go see if anything needs done, I did say I'd help in the shop," the King of Games smiled and made his way back down the stairs.

The young man found that most things were already in their place, but he found a box of booster packs to refill while he waited for his grandfather to return. As he was placing the packs into the display he heard the doorbell jingle, "I'll be right with you!" He hadn't turned the sign to open had he?

"Yugi," a deeply familiar voice sounded from the door and the box in Yugi's hands toppled to the ground.

It couldn't be?! His gaze moved around as his body turned and his eyes landed on the figure that had spoke to him. Tan skin, hair that matched his, purple hues, and there was no mistaking it, "Atem!?" There was silence as Yugi felt himself turn pale with disbelief, "Wh-What? H-How?" His eyes blinked at the man in front of him.

"Your surprise is as large as mine Yugi, but yes I am Atem," the ex-pharaoh smiled slightly at his friend, "You've grown up a lot, we might actually be confused for twins at this point."

Yugi couldn't believe it even as Atem spoke to him, "B-But what are you doing here?"

"I do not know; however, I know who brought me back. I was hoping though that you'd invite an old friend in?"

"Yeah, let me just pick these up quick," Yugi was filled with a sense of anxiety. He had put the Pharaoh's soul to rest hadn't he? What was he doing back and seemingly in his own body? He couldn't ask those questions yet and instead he finished picking up the booster packs and then headed upstairs with Atem in tow.

"It feels like only yesterday," Atem said with a smile as he sat on the couch. He may not have known why he was back in this life, but he was glad to see his friend and be in a place he had once called home with Yugi. Before he spoke again, he waited for Yugi to settle himself down and couldn't help but feel a little bad at the worried look on the other man's face, "Unfortunately as I said, I'm not aware of why I'm here or even really what forces brought me back. It was my sister's reincarnation's doing. I saw her when she brought me back, but she said she wasn't sure why she was urged to do it."

"That's strange, I didn't know you had a sister. She didn't appear in our travels to the past if I remember right. I'm sorry that you're no longer at rest in the spirit world," tears began to fill Yugi's eyes, "Does this mean that I failed you?"

"Do not say such things Yugi, you did not fail me and there is nothing for which you need to apologize. The truth is that I did not know what I had a sister from the ancient past and I did not learn of it until I reached the afterlife. It was a very long story, but it wasn't until after I left Egypt to Seto that she came to take her place at the palace, she became his queen," Atem recounted briefly the story, "She was reincarnated in your time as well as the others, but it wasn't until you defeated me that she was awakened to her true self. You might have heard of her reincarnation, her name is Seito Kiko and she runs the Kiko gaming corporation under the umbrella of Kaiba corp. We had heard of it while we participated in tournaments together only we didn't know it at the time."

"I remember hearing about her, but I had no idea she had ties to the ancient past. So she was awakened after you went to the afterlife just as she was awakened after you sealed your soul away?" Yugi looked thoughtful for a moment, "Are more events of the past happening again? It doesn't sound like she brought you back then if you didn't have memories after sealing yourself away."

"My thoughts exactly Yugi. It appeared based on the stone tablet that Seto returned Egypt to a peaceful place and no one mentioned to me that anything terrible occurred during his reign. If something is to happen, it wouldn't be an event of the past replaying again. However, it appears fate has a mind of it's own when it concerns us," Atem also wore a thoughtful expression, but it faded to a slight smile, "I guess only time will tell us, but it is troubling."

* * *

Ryou wasn't really sure what was going on, but he looked at the address on the letter he had gotten before looking at the address on the gate in front of him. 'What could Seito Kiko want with me?' he thought to himself as he hesitantly lifted his hand to ring the bell. However, before he had the chance the screen blipped on next to the intercom, "You are right on time Ryou," the voice of a male spoke as what looked like a butler appeared on the screen, "Please come in, the gate will be opening."

Before the brit could even respond the gates to the mansion silently slid open and he glanced hesitantly behind him before making his way up the drive to the front door, which opened immediately when he stepped onto the front porch. "Welcome Ryou Bakura to the Kiko manor," the same butler from the intercom appeared in the doorway, "Miss Kiko is awaiting your arrival, please follow me right this way."

"Oh, uhm, thanks," came a timid reply from Ryou as the butler began leading the way through the mansion. He was a little awe struck at the number of ancient Egyptian artifacts that they passed. Was this Seito a collector? He felt a prickle on the back of his neck wondering why it was that Egypt was always involved with everything. Hopefully this didn't have something to do with everything that happened a few years back. He wasn't sure his heart could take any more of that and besides that should have been over with once the Pharaoh was put to rest. Ryou had become so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized they were heading down somewhere dark and the moment he did, he bit on his lip a little, "Where exactly are we going?"

"We are almost there," was the only reply that Ryou got as they entered a chamber that was only lit by torches. On the walls there were carvings that were unmistakably Egyptian and at the end was an altar that made Ryou want to turn and run away, but for some reason he was drawn closer to the altar and the person standing in front of it. That must have been Seito, she had long black hair and looked like in her picture at least.

"That's far enough Goro, you may leave," she directed her butler whom quickly turned away to leave, "Ryou, welcome. Please come closer." As she lifted her arm in what Ryou assumed was suppose to be a welcoming manner, he noticed a gold staff glinting in her hand.

He wasn't sure what to say, but his feet continued moving forward until he was standing a few feet away from her, "H-Hello." Though now that he was in front of her he realized that he had meet her before, how could he have forgotten?

Before he could say anything else though she was speaking, "I'm so glad that you could make it. I need help with something and it is something only Ryou Bakura can assist me with," she tapped her staff and the doors he had come through closed silently, "And I have someone who would like to say hello to you."

"R-Really? Well I'm not sure what someone like me could assist you with, but I suppose I'm always willing to help," Ryou's cheerful demeanor got the better of him and while he remembered meeting the woman in front of him, he still couldn't place her, "I see that you collect Egyptian artifacts, I can't say I've ever seen something like this before." As he gazed around he felt something, but that just had to be his connection to the past, he kept telling himself that they were done with what happened five millennia ago.

"That's Ryou, always willing to help anyone who asks," a voice filled the room causing Ryou's nervous smile to falter and what little color he had drained from his face, "What's that expression for? You can't think you actually got rid of me."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span

"Wait, what's going on here?!" Ryou began to panic as he stared at Seito, "Why is he here? He was defeated by the Pharaoh!"

Seito couldn't help but grin as she watched the hikari freak out, "Yes, he was defeated by the Pharaoh. I suppose unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring was smart enough to find a way to transfer some of his soul to another. When the Pharaoh defeated both Zorc and Thief King Bakura, the combination of these two strong souls escaped. How? Well you would have to ask him. I suppose perhaps he will tell us once you help to resurrect him."

"No! I won't help with something like that," Ryou balled his hands into fists and begged his feet to start moving so that he could run away. No matter how hard he tried; however, he couldn't get his feet to move and he was stuck rooted to the spot.

"You don't appear to be trying to get away," the voice sounded around them and Ryou reached up to grip his head at the sound, "Let's get this going, I'm tired of not having a body."

Ryou's gaze at Seito became fearfully as she came closer to him and he couldn't even open his mouth to respond. How could this be happening? He would be shoved back to the corners of his mind and his body would be used to hurt people again. This couldn't be real and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes as the female before him lifted her staff and pointed it at him. She was going to transfer the soul of the Evil Spirit back to him, "Please no," he weakly begged, but a bright light soon engulfed his entire body.

As the light engulfed the young male, Seito held her free hand into the air and the Eye of Anubis glowed on her forehead. "Shadows of the dark realm, I command thee as a goddess of Egypt! The soul which created thy realm requires a host and in the name of the God of Shadow, Zorc, use this vessel to give resurrected life to the soul within me that bores a piece of both Zorc and Thief King Bakura!" As she spoke, shadows seeped from the altar behind her and wove themselves around Ryou.

The brit screamed as a sharp pain seeped all through his body, "P-please!" He felt tears streaming down his cheeks as he as though he was being ripped apart and he couldn't understand why it was so painful considering the number of times Bakura had taken over his body after Ryou managed to be rid of him for short periods of time. What was going on? The pain seemed to last forever, but eventually it began to subside and he felt something solid beneath him. He blinked tears from his eyes and realized he was laying on a cold stone floor, but somehow he didn't feel like he was in the prison Bakura usually threw him into.

"Perfect," Bakura's voice sounded and drew Ryou's gaze. He blinked in shock as unmistakably a duplicate with Bakura's features was standing next to him. "Did you really think I wanted to be trapped inside the same body as you again?" Bakura turned to his former host with a wicked grin plastered on his face. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span

"But, how?" Ryou could only find those two words as he turned to look to where he remembered Seito standing only to see her down on her knees. A bewildered look flashed onto his pale features, wondering if she was okay, though not entirely sure why his heart was worried about someone who was teaming up with the malevolent being that stood feet from him.

Seito was fine, but she had to gasp for air as she spent all of her energy using the power of her Shadow Staff to forcibly separate a solid body for Yami Bakura before ejecting his soul from her own. "There are powers that put the Millennium Items to shame Ryou," she chuckled and shakily rose to her feet, "You did well. You've accomplished what we needed from you."

Shakily the man still lying on the floor pulled himself back onto his knees and looked between the two in the room. He was confused beyond all belief, but at the same time the horror of the fact that not only was the spirit from the Millennium Ring still alive, but also standing next to him in a body that had somehow just been created. "Wh-What are you two going to do?" Ryou found his voice after a few minutes as Bakura stretched out his new limbs.

This drew Bakura's gaze back to him, "You need not know about our plans. Given we're in separate bodies now I can't have you telling your foolish friends." Bakura may have been violent and quite unhinged, but he wasn't an idiot either. He'd spent far too long plotting and planning to have someone screw things up for him, especially not the reincarnation of the Thief King. In fact it was the part of his soul that was made up by the Thief King that made him so good at deceiving others and sneaking about.

Ryou stared down at the ground feeling helpless yet again and he just wanted to cry, but he tried his hardest not to show that weakness in front of his Yami and his Yami's new friend. "What will you do with me now?" Ryou suddenly realized how useless he was to Bakura since he had his own body. He was disposable now and he didn't trust that he wouldn't be thrown into the Shadow Realm that apparently was still style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span

Bakura and Seito exchanged a glance, but ultimately Bakura squatted down and replied, "I have grown quiet fond of you despite your lack of a backbone. If you continue to help us, I won't have her throw you into the Shadow Realm." The grin on his face really indicated that the other didn't have a choice in the matter. Bakura knew that he wasn't able to use his shadow powers just yet and knowing Ryou better than anyone, knew that it wouldn't take much to make him cave. "We've spent so much time together haven't we? I promise not to make you hurt anyone," the statement wasn't a complete lie, he didn't need to use Ryou to harm anyone and at the moment he had no plans to do so.

As Ryou contemplated still staring at the ground, he couldn't help but curse himself for having a weakness for Bakura. His resistance to Bakura's will had always been half-hearted unless it put his friends in direct harm and that was likely due to the connection of their souls. In truth, part of him had always felt bad for his Yami, figuring that his doings had to have a reason even if there was no reason for him to act the way that he did. "F-Fine," he agreed weakly, but felt like he was sealing a miserable fate for himself.

"Good," a wicked smirk slid across Bakura's face and he stood back up, "Of course, I knew that you would agree and as a warning, I already had Seito put a fraction of her soul into you." He would have had her insert a portion of his own, but didn't like the idea of not being able to withdraw it himself. He was even wary of having a portion of his soul still resting with Seito, but if his experience jumping bodies was any indication, he may need it someday.

"I suppose the more allies we have the better off we will be in the end anyway," Seito piped up and with a light tap of the staff she carried it morphed into a ring on her finger with hieroglyphics carved into the metal surface. It had taken her years to build up the strength of the Shadows given that they were sealed when her brother defeated Zorc and finally the cogs were beginning to turn. "Ryou you are probably very weak, but a little bit of rest and you will be fine," the female assured the man still sitting on the ground, "Here," she offered him her hand with a light smile much different from the grin she wore earlier, "I already had Goro prepare a guest room."

Ryou could feel his limbs still a bit shaky and truth was he wasn't sure he had the strength to stand up, which meant there wasn't a chance of running away now. He blinked as she offered her hand to him, but took it hesitantly. How could someone working with Bakura take on such a kind demeanor all of the sudden? It confused him, but he allowed her to help him to his feet. Once there though he waivered slightly and while he didn't want to he had to hold her arm for support, "Thank you."

Despite her current partnership with Bakura, there was much about Seito she didn't want to reveal about herself and her goals. Being cruel to Ryou wasn't part of her plan and whether it was a tactic to gain his trust or genuine, she would let him continue to guess. "Don't worry about it, we have other things to attend to now anyway," she shrugged off his thanks and helped show him to the room he could use, leaving Bakura to his own devices until she was done. There was plenty of work to be done.


End file.
